The Zhitong Finance App learned that Qunzhi Consulting published an article stating that the total smartphone panel market shipped about 1.12 billion pieces in the first half of 2026, an increase of 2.9% over the previous year. Multiple increments hedge against the decline in terminals, and the market maintained steady performance. Overall demand for smartphone terminals weakened in the first half of the year, but panel market shipments did not decline at the same time. The core support came from three major increases: early stocking in the low-end model channel, the popularity of all Apple models in the market, and a sharp expansion in demand in the mobile phone stock maintenance market. Multiple incremental dynamics provided a buffer, and panel shipments continued to run smoothly in the first half of 2026.
Industry concentration continues to increase, and the “top five leading manufacturers plus small and medium-sized manufacturers” pattern has basically been solidified
Judging from the overall pattern, the total market share of the top five panel manufacturers continued to rise, with a total share of about 77%. They maintained a stable competitive structure of “top five plus small and medium manufacturers” for several consecutive quarters. The share of small and medium-sized panel manufacturers continued to be squeezed by leading companies, and the Matthew effect in the industry continued to intensify:
BOE (BOE): With a market share of 25.2%, it ranked first in the world. In the first half of the year, panel shipments were about 280 million pieces, an increase of 7.1% over the previous year. The A‑Si LCD and flexible OLED business grew at the same time, with flexible OLED shipments of 81.4 million pieces, an increase of 14.6% over the previous year. At this stage, the G8.6 generation OLED production line has completed mid-size mass production, and the mobile phone project is in the trial production stage. As production line processes continue to be refined and verified by customers, it will become a new growth fulcrum for its flexible OLED business.
Samsung Display (SDC): Panel shipments in the first half of the year were about 170 million pieces, a slight increase of 0.9% over the previous year. Among them, flexible OLED shipments were about 120 million pieces, an increase of 34.5% over the previous year, mainly benefiting from the popularity of the iPhone model market and helping overall shipments maintain the growth trend.
Huaxing Optoelectronics (CSOT): ranked third in the world, with a market share of 13.4%. The total shipment volume in the first half of the year was about 150 million pieces, an increase of 8.9% over the previous year. The growth was mainly due to the continuous increase in shipments brought about by A‑Si LCD panels in the context of the continuous release of production capacity, but the marginal effect of capacity release weakened, and the growth rate declined somewhat.
The industry's weak cycle environment intensifies the differentiation of the technology landscape. a-Si LCDs and flexible OLEDs bucked the trend, and rigid OLEDs and LTPS LCDs accelerated their clearance
Overall demand for smartphone terminals weakened in the first half of 2026, but panel shipments maintained positive growth due to two major buffer factors, which relied on early preparation channels and an explosion in the maintenance market. At the same time, the differentiation between cooling and heating on different technology tracks intensified, flexible OLEDs bucked the trend, and a-Si grew slightly. Rigid OLED and LTPS LCDs continue to shrink.
a-Si LCD: In the first half of 2026, smartphone a-Si LCD panels shipped a total of about 680 million pieces, an increase of 6.5% over the previous year, and the overall market share reached 60.7%. It is still the basic market for the smartphone panel market. The core of growth depends on the expansion of demand in the stock maintenance market, and panel orders for complete machine brands showed a downward trend due to the weakening market. In addition to the impressive shipping performance of Huaxing Optoelectronics (CSOT), Tianma (Tianma)'s shipments in the first half of the year doubled year-on-year. Small and medium panel manufacturers are being squeezed by operating capacity, and shipments continue to shrink.
Flexible OLED: Flexible OLED shipped 350 million pieces in the first half of 2026, an increase of 15.6% over the previous year, making it the display technology with the highest growth rate on the entire racetrack. The driving force behind dual-core growth is the continued popularity of Apple smartphones and rising demand for flexible OLEDs in the maintenance market. Dual demand resonance supports the continued boom in flexible OLEDs, and is also the only panel track that can hedge against the weak cycle of terminals.
Rigid OLEDs: In the first half of 2026, total rigid OLED shipments were 68.6 million pieces, down 33.3% year on year; mid-range models of major mobile phone brands continued to iteratively upgrade to flexible OLEDs. Not only did demand for rigid screens on new devices shrink, but replacement demand in the stock maintenance market also gradually shifted to flexible OLEDs, and the size of the rigid OLED market continued to shrink.
LTPS LCD: Total LTPS LCD shipments in the first half of 2026 were 25.5 million pieces, a sharp year-on-year decline of 47.0%, and still close to the bottom. A number of panel manufacturers have completely withdrawn from the LTPS LCD layout for smartphones.
Downward pressure on machine demand is gradually transmitted, short-term maintenance demand is supported, and long-term low-end flexibility drives FOLED increments
Sigmaintell (Sigmaintell) believes that demand in the short-term terminal phone market continues to weaken, the downward pressure on whole machine shipments is gradually transmitted to the panel end, and overall panel shipments are under pressure. The increase in terminal product prices in the second half of the year will further curb the desire to switch, and demand for maintenance and replacement will remain high. Combined with Apple's relatively stable orders for high-end models, they will jointly underpin demand for panels. The flexible OLED market is expected to remain resilient.
In the medium to long term, terminal brands will bring new growth space for flexible OLEDs through product form innovation and technology sinking two-wheel drive. On the one hand, new forms such as wide folding and wide straight boards have been actively launched to continue to expand application scenarios; on the other hand, along with continuous cost optimization, terminal brands have accelerated the downsizing of flexible OLEDs to low-end models, promoting the penetration of flexible OLEDs into a wider range of price ranges and opening up long-term incremental space.